It was on display for over 20 years yet no one knew a cannonball had never been defused.
Authorities detonated the explosive Friday afternoon after it was inspected by a sharp-eyed by a visitor at the Pleasanton Trading Post Museum who alerted staff.
The 90-pound cannonball was donated to the Museum decades ago. It was originally purchased in the Chesapeake Bay area.
On Thursday the visitor noticed a fuse in the ordnance and said it could still be live.
“He almost tripped over the cannonball and found it and he was looking at it and he said there was supposed to be a hole in it,” said Trading Post Museum curator Jessica Cox.
Museum officials contacted authorities.
The Fort Riley, Kan. explosives ordnance disposal unit determined it could be live so they detonated the cannonball.
